Only After Dark (Heaven 17 special)

Only after dark

Last night I travelled back in time.  It was to a strange distant land that I had forgotten about for over 30 years.  Last night I attended the OAD club. (For those of you who are not yet darkling’s, OAD stands for ‘Only After Dark’, a monthly club night based on the Bowie nights and the Rum Runner/Blitz Club nights of the late 70’s and early 80’s.).

It was an eclectic mix of people in my peer group made up of punks, new wave, Goths (who in my day were called alternatives), and anyone who is just not happy to conform to being described as ‘Normal’.  Style was a key factor.  To be individual and who you are.  This had been my upbringing.  And here I was back where I had started.  I had come home!

I knew this would be a very special night, not just because of how absolutely fabulous the music and people are, but this was no ordinary night.  Oh no!  This was a Heaven 17 special.  I need to thank Lucky Al for having his 50^th birthday there as he started the ball rolling to give us what was an amazing and exciting night.  And boy was lucky Al lucky!  Heaven 17 gave him a few very rare records (all signed) including one white label promo copy of Penthouse and Pavement.  (I went a suitable shade of green – Oh what I would give for a copy of that?!)  A thought ran through my mind.  We all have birthdays…can’t we do this every time someone has a birthday?  I didn’t care how impractical this was, I liked this thought!

The night was special in so many ways…Firstly there was a limited edition record for sale.  A version of The Human League’s ‘Only after Dark’ covered by Heaven 17 in numbered limited editions of only 100 copies!

Then there was a meet & greet with Glenn and Martyn.  They signed anything you asked them to and had a photo taken with you by a professional photographer (which was such a blessing as my husband got in real trouble for the very blurred photo he took at the Heaven 17 Buxton gig).  There was a big queue but Heaven 17, being two of the nicest people in the music industry added an extra meet & greet after the set for those who didn’t get the chance at the first one.

Then Martyn did a DJ set.  It was fabulous.  Everyone was dancing.  Everyone was friendly. Everyone was having a good time.  Everyone was lovely to each other.  Complete strangers complemented each other on their individual style.  Here was a place where no one judged you.  And if you ever wondered why women spend time in the ladies toilets, I was told how lovely my long and curly my hair was and how skinny my legs were! 

As the midnight hour approached, Heaven 17 performed a short set.  They started with ‘Fascist Groove Thang’.  I danced and danced.  They continued with ‘Black hit of space’, ‘Crow and a baby’ and their personal favourite, ‘Let me go’.  They did a paired down version of ‘You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling’.  With no backing singers, you could really hear Martyn’s soulful voice and how it perfectly complements Glenn’s deep vocals.  A perfect combination.

And they finished the set, not with their traditional ‘Temptation’, but with the only time they will ever perform ‘Only after dark’.  It was bitter sweet.  I totally love this track and to think you will never hear it again live makes me sad, but also so happy that I was one of the lucky ones.  I was more than lucky.  I had been there on the night they had played it for the first and last time.  I honestly cannot begin to tell you how amazing this night was.  Enough adjectives do not exist to describe it.  

For someone whose normally Saturday night often consists of being in bed by 10pm I wondered how I would last til 3am.  None of us are 20 anymore…but for some reason the music kept me going and to be honest I could have danced until 5am (shoes allowing).

The music is all late 70’s and early 80’s with a heavy helping of Bowie for good measure.  There are also TV videos showing how stylish we all were then.  I danced to tracks such as Bowie’s ‘Look back in anger’ (I don’t think I had ever heard that in a club before), ‘Sex Dwarf’ by Soft Cell and ‘Dear Prudence’ by Siouxsie and the Banshees.  For me personally, I missed the omission of Bauhaus (There should always be some Bela Lugosi!!) and Joy Division, but overall I swear I had died and gone to heaven. (well Heaven 17)…this was such a unique, special and wonderful night.

If you are from the punk/post punk generation, are a non-conformist and have a sense of style not appreciated by the masses you know what you need to do!  OAD runs monthly in Birmingham and has an active Facebook group which you can join to find out when the next one is.  

For me, I had come home and now I never want to leave!  Welcome to the darkside…darklings!

More photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasminestormie/sets/72157633026436360/

 

 

 

Hansel and Gretel – witch hunters

Hansel and Gretel – witch hunters

This film is the story of Hansel and Gretel, but with a difference. They are both witch hunters!

The story has a few interesting quirks such as the inventive weapons they use to kill witches and the fact that Hansel is diabetic because he ate so much candy as a child.

It is fast moving and full of action. It even has a troll. However, it has left me with lots of un-answered questions and the script is so bad in places, it is cringe-worthy.

Of course, the twilight generation will adore this film but then if they adored twilight it says a lot about the taste of a whole generation of wannabe witches, vampires and werewolves.

I found this film had issues with how fast the action was. It was so fast in places you couldn’t tell who was hitting who. (A bit of Matrix style slo-mo could have helped here)

Yes Hansel is diabetic but we have no idea where he gets his magically full injections from. 

There is an issue that Hansel and Gretel are arrogant witch hunters who could really do with learning that stealth is a good weapon. They almost let witches get away to get beaten up and do more running.  They have a fan called Ben who they are not that civil to and really despite catching lots of witches and making a good name for themselves as witch hunters, they are hard characters to like.  (By the way, whose idea was it to call someone Ben when Hansel, Gretel, Mina, basically everyone else has old style German sounding names?!)

The effects are good but with a bit too much cgi which is becoming the norm.  This is a shame and can be distracting from the film.

The saving grace of this film is the grand witch, Muriel who is evil and who has been given one or two lines with humour in it.

Overall it is not a terrible film, but this film is made for a certain generation (of which I am probably too old) and they don’t seem to mind bad scripts and lots of cgi!

Verdict: Well what else are you gonna watch on a Sunday afternoon? Columbo?!!

 

 

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas was considered the book that was impossible to make into a film.  I have just sat through the film and agree with this statement.  This film jumps timelines that makes Inception look like a walk-through book for a five year old.

If you ask me what the film is about, I could guess it is about love, about friendship and about the courage to make a difference in your life for others. But that is just a guess.  The truth is this film has no clear message.

I can accept time travel and the same souls on different time levels with ease.  What I can’t accept is the terrible editing in this film that makes it hard to watch and almost impossible to enjoy.

There are  two outstanding storylines (it is about several different characters throughout time played by the same people)in the film.

The first one is a gay love story.  It is a very passionate beautiful story which I really felt for the characters.  However within the first five minutes you already know what the outcome of this story is going to be so it makes it hard to get close to the characters.

I also very much enjoyed the story in the future of a girl waitress who escapes her destiny to find another life and love outside of the hum-drum she was born into.

The trouble with this film is continuity. Why are the same actors playing different characters? What is the point of this?  It is not the same soul reborn or a love story through time - so why? It is  not clear how anyone is linked!

I consider Tom Hanks to be one of our greatest living actors.  He does not disappoint in this film but I struggle to see how he and Hally Berry are connected through time.  They just don’t seem to fit well for me and I wonder with all the other complicated story sub-plots why anyone would give this film the time of day.

The truth is this film does not deliver.  There are elements of John Carter and of Inception but both these films had what a good film needs – a story about love with characters you genuinely care about. Cloud Atlas jumps so frequently it is hard to care about any of the characters enough to follow what may happen.  It is a hugely disappointing film.

A good film needs to make money.  This is the truth of the world we live in. We want to go to the cinema to either escape our lives for a few hours or to feel something (shock, heartfelt love, heartbreak, fantasy etc).  If a film is good we will choose to go repeatedly to see it.  We will recommend it to friends and buy it on DVD.  Cloud Atlas is not one of these films!

 

 

Harry Hill - Sausage Tour

Harry Hill - Sausage time national tour.

I felt like an alien last night. I had arrived on a planet that didn’t speak my language.  I went to see Harry Hill on his sausage time tour and didn’t understand most of it.

If I were an alien visiting and Harry Hill was representing the human race, Goodness only knows what they would conclude.

Harry Hill started the show with a blue and white checked mattress being pushed into the front row and then jumping on it like a five year old. Some gags were very funny such as ‘Tim Curry, Tim rice – what is it about the name Tim that makes you think of Chinese food’  I also enjoyed the ‘You’ve been framed’ jokes .  Harry just described a few generic scenarios and then said ‘see you after the break’.  He also explained God backwards is Dog so Jesus backwards is sausages!  He was rather close to the bone to start on Muslims and their worshipping of Allah (known to Harry as Alan).  Everyone around me was laughing and even crying with laughter.  I sat there politely smiling and pretending to understand what was going on but the truth is – I had no clue!

The second half of the show descended into what I can only describe as madness.  It must have been devised on the back of paper napkin at a roadside cafe. It was total chaos and with no continuity or understanding.  I have decided that I just don’t conform to what other find funny.  There were less jokes and more slapstick humour such as a man in a leotard from Dignatas trying to smother Harry with a pillow. Or the scene where Harry tries to drink a bucket of water.  Or a huge floating sausage coming out of Harry’s mouth.

I was disappointed with the lack of any knitted characters or ‘there is only one way to find out – Fiiiggghhhhttt!’ 

Would I go to see him again?  Probably not.  But there are hundreds in my place who would so I don’t think Harry Hill will be going anywhere soon.

 

 

 

Kraftwerk ist fantastisch!!

Kraftwerk ist fantastisch!!

I had already felt like I had won a golden ticket (just like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Kraftwerk at the Tate tickets were ridiculously hard to get hold of.  You knew this was to be an uber cool event.  There were many angry fans who couldn’t get tickets but that just added to how special and unique this event was going to be.

We headed down to the Tate Modern and found out that people had been queuing from midday to try to get a return ticket.  (The show didn’t start til 9pm!) We knew we were lucky!

Security was very tight.  You needed your whole party with you and the card you paid with to get access to your tickets and wristbands.  However staff were friendly and excited.  Many famous people had been over the last seven gigs (including Grace Jones, Mick Hucknell and Boy George) and tonight was the final Kraftwerk gig!

It was a very civilised affair.  We were issued with cushions to sit on to wait in the turbine hall for the gig to start.  People were dressed quite smartly and I was in a minority being a woman as there was many more men than women! So much for Valentine’s Day, Kraftwerk is more important!
We all patiently waited and the time flew by chatting to fellow fans.  Kraftwerk opened by saying guten abend and launched into Tour de France.  Oh did I mention it was all in 3D!  Kraftwerk’s suits glowed in the dark and the 3D was amazing (especially for Vitamin – I felt like I was tripping on LSD as the 3D came right out the screen at me to touch).  This was no ordinary 3D but this was no ordinary band!

They did all the old favourites; The Model (which was poor graphics considering all the other amazing graphics), Autobahn had amazing cartoon like graphics, Trans Europe Express, Computer Love, Neon Lights, The Robots, Techno pop. I had known that Coldplay had sampled Computer Love but felt ashamed that I did not know Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force had sampled Trans Europe Express.  This show educated me.

The whole experience was one every person there will never forget.  Those lucky ‘golden ticket’ winners know they have experienced something amazing.  Kraftwerk started back in the 1970’s but still feel as fresh today as ever.  It was almost like a resurrection – what Kraftwerk had preached about 30 years ago has now come to be.  Computer Love sing about a Data Date and here we are meeting and dating strangers on the internet. How ahead of the game are they?!!

Verdict: Kraftwerk was everything I expected from them and more!  A visual feat to match the precise and clean electronic sound of music. In a word: Amazing!

 

 More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasminestormie/sets/72157632777964619/

 

Django Unchained

Django unchained

Tarrantino never disappoints and this is also another Tarrantino classic.

The story is one of revenge.  In that respect is it very similar to Kill Bill.  But instead of a mother’s love for her child, this is a story of slavery and a man’s love for his wife.   

It is a western and yet unlike any western film you will ever see.  It is violent as you would expect a Tarrantino film to be but he excels himself with the script.  A fantastic script, as in most of his films, where people will be quoting from for years to come. 

Example one:  ‘I like the way you die, Boy’.

Example two: ‘You had my curiosity, Gentlemen. Now you have my attention!’ 

Jamie Foxx plays a slave named Django, who meets Dr Suhultz during the first scene of the film.  (Which is a great scene).  Dr Schultz is played by Christoph Waltz, who was outstanding in Inglorious Basterds as Hans Landa.  Unfortunately he plays Dr Suhultz almost the same way and his mannerisms and way he tries to talk his way out of a situation feels so much like Landa, it makes me feel that Tarrantino needs to widen his use of the actors and find a few fresh faces.  

For me, Tarrantino’s film dialogue is what makes Tarrantino stand out from the rest of the crowd.  However I need to warn those with a delicate disposition to the ‘N’ word that it is used in nearly every sentence by both black and white.  Mary Whitehouse would be turning in her grave to hear the language that is used.  However this is Tarrantino’s world and this is acceptable in his world.

Samuel L Jackson gives an absolutely outstanding performance as Stephen, an old slave who works for the Candie family, an old codger who is very loyal to Calvin Candie (played by Leonardo DiCaprio.  Boy he has come a long way since Titanic!). I enjoyed Leo’s portrayal of a rich southern man and found his accent very accurate. 

Some scenes are beautifully shot.  There is a scene in a cotton field where Dr Schultz shoots a bad guy from some distance and you see a pretty splattering of red blood on the clean white cotton.  There is another scene where some of the Candie family are walking home after a funeral, and are almost silhouetted against the evening sky. It is a very effective scene (despite it reminding me of the scene when Kill Bill’s Deadly Viper Assassination Squad are about to kill the bride!) 

The soundtrack for Tarrantino films are always very well sourced and this film is no exception. I felt the soundtrack matched the scenes perfectly.  Even the titles are thought about.  When they get to Mississippi, the title fills the screen so you know this is a significant place.  

What I love about Tarrantino films is the way he thinks about all these little things.  It works.  There are some issues with this film such as when he shoots Calvin Candie’s sister, she flies back like she is on a wire but the truth is she is at the wrong angle for her to be pulled this way.  I would question that some of the shooting would be as accurate as it appears to be.  Everyone has a bad day and must miss now and again!   

I also felt that we didn’t really connect about the motivation that Django had to save his wife. He had nothing to lose and before he meets Dr Schultz he doesn’t seem that motivated.  Tarrantino missed a point of showing how their love and life as man and wife was together before  separation may have made us understand his motivation better.  Instead all we see is a flash of his wife in a yellow dress on his way to Candieland.  His wife is most definitely seen as a minor character in the film. 

The film plot is similar to Kill Bill as I have already mentioned, but there is one scene which feels like it is totally copied from Kill Bill. The scene where The Bride (Beatrice) has just killed most of the crazy 88’s and said those who are able to leave can go – ‘But not you Sophie’.  The same thing is said when Django says all the black folks can go ‘But not you Stephen’.  

I also think that Tarrantino is a much better writer and director than he is actor.  He has a small cameo in this film which is dreadful and I truly wish he had put someone else into that role despite him only having a few lines.  

Because the film is generally excellent and because I love Tarrantino, I am prepared to overlook the small issues and say this is another fantastic film. It is not a pulp fiction or Kill Bill, but neither is it a deathproof! You don’t have to love Western films to enjoy this.

 

One final warning – it is one of Tarrantino’s longest films.  Think of it as getting more for your money!

 

 

Les Miserables

Wow. Hold on. I mean WOW!!!

Les Mis has blown me away. I have never seen the show before nor do I know the story as 1) I dislike films on history. 2) I dislike films on war. 3) I am not a fan of the French.  So this was my first experience of Les Mis. And for someone of many words, all I can say is WOW!!!

Rule number 1. Do not bother to see this film if you hate musicals. There is hardly any dialogue that isn’t sung.

Rule number 2. You are allowed to clap after a moving scene. Yes it is cinema but some of these performances deserved a standing ovation.

This is set in France during the French revolution. The first scene is amazing and better than it would ever be portrayed on a theatre set. (Which is hard for me to say as an ex-stage actress myself). But the perception it is filmed from and wetness of the sea on the men really gives it another dimension.

The outfits are great but I think have been borrowed many times by Adam Ant and Coldplay! Even the young rebel looks a bit like laddie from The lost boys.

There are so many outstanding performances to mention but I have to give my Storm award (better than an Oscar!) to Anne Hathaway who plays Fantane. She plays the role with such heart and emotion.  She is a real actress who gave her locks for her art. (They hack her hair off in a scene and she let them do it to experience it). This really works.  All the actors sing live and Anne’s big song is ‘I dreamed a dream’ which she sings with hope and despair and emotion. I can completely forgive her for her ‘One Day’ accent now (well almost).

Hugh Jackman (yes Wolverine to most of us) is another actor giving another outstanding performance.  He is the main thread of the film and again, gives the film heart.  Who knew he could sing?  Russell Crowe is his nemesis and they meet several times over the years throughout the film. They work well together with no one actually stealing a scene but complementing each other. 

Samantha Barks plays Eponine and although it is a smaller part than others, I thought she gave it her all. Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia fame is Cosette . Thank goodness this is the only link with Mamma Mia as I hate what they did with that film. (Using famous actors who couldn’t sing a bloody note!). The young Cosette is played by Isabelle Allen and she is outstanding in her small role. I predict a wonderful future for this young actress.

I even quite liked Sasha Baron Cohen as the Innkeeper, but his wife is played by Helene Bonham Carter and she plays it all wrong.  It is almost like she has reprised her Sweeney Todd role. Now I am not getting at Helene – Oh no she can act. Look at Lady Jane Grey or The Queen mum in the King’s Speech. She was amazing. But Tim Burton has tainted her character and now she is the person everyone calls on for a ‘quirky’ character. She belongs in Harry Potter, not Les Mis and to put on a cockney accent absolutely spoils it when Sasha is doing is best impersonation of a Frenchman. They are the light entertainment of Les Mis and do bring another dimension.

This is a long film, but so is The Hobbit and Django unchanged so maybe this is the trend to be able to tell the full story. Think of it as getting more for your money. You are not clock-watching in Les Mis. You are living and feeling their pain.

Verdict: Outstanding film version of Les Miserables. If only ‘Lincoln’ hadn’t come out at the same time this would win all the Oscars. If you love great acting and a story with heart, this is for you.